The Happiness Project: Or why I spent a year trying to sing in the morning, clean my closets, fight right... by Gretchen Rubin

I'm always on the lookout for a good book, especially one that is not in my typical genre (which lately seems to be anything "vampire" or fantasy). So when a friend mentioned this book about happiness, and how is was easy reading, light, and funny, I said to myself, "that is a book I want to read". I was excited to try something new - to broaden my horizens - so immediately accessed the library website, looked it up, and reserved a copy for myself. I was SO excited, in fact, that I didn't even wait for them to pull it off the shelf for me - I stopped by on my way home and picked it up myself!

I couldn't tell you the exact reason I was so excited to read this. Maybe it was because I was becoming bored with my other books. Maybe it was because I valued my friend's opinion and thought "it has to be a good book if she recommends it". Maybe it was because deep down inside I was looking for my own piece of happiness. Don't get me wrong - I'm happy with my life. But everyone has those moments, as small as they may be - when you're sitting amongst the chaos of your crazy life and you wonder, is this it? Maybe what I really needed was someone to say "stop and slow down" so that I can truely appreciate the things in my life that make me happy.

For the past month I have gone along for the ride as Gretchen tackled one resolution every month for a year, in all areas of life. Vitality, Marriage, Work, Parenthood, Leisure, Friendship, Money, Eternity, Books, Mindfulness, Attitude, & Happiness. Written with a comic touch, it was so easy to visualize her stories, whether it was about her children and learning to be more patient and accepting, or about her husband as she learns how to quit nagging and give proofs of love, or just pursuing a passion (hers is books - I can relate). It is full of insightful wisdom and little ideas that stay with you throughout the day.

I am so glad that I read this book. Now I might just have to go buy a copy for myself!

"The days are long, but the years are short."

Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse #1) by: Charlaine Harris

Sookie Stackhouse is a cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana, but she keeps to herself and doesn't date much because of her "disability" to read minds. When she meets Bill, Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's the type of guy she's waited for all of her life, but he has a disability, too--he's a vampire with a bad reputation. When one of Sookie's coworkers is killed, she fears she's next.

City of Bones (Mortal Instruments #1) by: Cassandra Clare

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know....

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

The Last Song by: Nicholas Sparks

Seventeen-year-old Veronica 'Ronnie' Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alienated from her parents, especially her father ...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church. The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story about love in its myriad forms - first love, the love between parents and children - that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that deeply felt relationships can break our hearts ...and heal them.

The Fury and Dark Reunion (The Vampire Diaries, #3-4) by: L.J. Smith

Elena: transformed, the golden girl has become what she once feared and desired.

Stefan: tormented by losing Elena, he's determined to end his feud with Damon once and for all—whatever the cost. But slowly he begins to realize that his brother is not his only enemy.

Damon: at last, he possesses Elena. But will his thirst for revenge against Stefan poison his triumph? Or can they come together to face one final battle?

Collected here in one edition are the third and fourth volumes of The Vampire Diaries, a riveting conclusion to the tale of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.

Alex Cross's Trial by: James Patterson

The year is 1906, and America is segregated. Hatred and discrimination plague the streets, the classroom, and the courts. But in Washington, D.C., Ben Corbett, a smart and courageous lawyer, makes it his mission to confront injustice at every turn. He represents those who nobody else dares defend, merely because of the color of their skin. When President Roosevelt, under whom Ben served in the Spanish-American war, asks Ben to investigate rumors of the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in his home town in Mississippi, he cannot refuse.

The details of Ben's harrowing story--and his experiences with a remarkable man named Abraham Cross--were passed from generation to generation, until they were finally recounted to Alex Cross by his grandmother, Nana Mama. From the first time hear heard the story, Alex was unable to forget the unimaginable events Ben witnessed in Eudora and pledged to tell it to the world. Alex Cross's Trial is unlike any story Patterson has ever told, but offers the astounding action and breakneck speed of any Alex Cross novel.

The Lost Symbol by: Dan Brown

In this stunning follow-up to the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown demonstrates once again why he is the world’s most popular thriller writer. The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling--a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths . . . all under the watchful eye of Brown’s most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale.

As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object--artfully encoded with five symbols--is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation . . . one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon--a prominent Mason and philanthropist--is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations--all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

As the world discovered in The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, Dan Brown’s novels are brilliant tapestries of veiled histories, arcane symbols, and enigmatic codes. In this new novel, he again challenges readers with an intelligent, lightning-paced story that offers surprises at every turn. The Lost Symbol is exactly what Brown’s fans have been waiting for . . . his most thrilling novel yet.

~ 4.5 Stars ~